The Modern Victory Garden

Hello all, new on this sight. I am excited to get my gardens going this year. I have just finished putting in new raised beds. I was wondering if many of you save seeds for next year. Is it true that seeds from Hybrids don't do well?

Hi Larry!  Welcome to the site, glad you found your way here.   I will take a stab at answering your questions, but hopefully others will chime in with their experiences too.   I do save seeds but due to limited garden space, I only save seeds on plants that do not require strict isolation requirements and/or that are biannuals that must occupy garden space for two full years to get seeds.   For me I save bean (bush, pole, and dried), peas, tomatoes, peppers, and occassionally pumpkin or cucumbers (these require isolation but are not too hard to do). 

As to hybrids, you can save seeds from them but they will not produce a crop that reproduces the parent plant's characteristics.   A hybrid tomato will yield seeds that will produce a tomato plant - but it will not necessarily look or taste like the parent.   Open pollinated vareities are stabilized and will produce true to type if you practice isolation techniques as needed etc.  

A great book on seed saving is "Sed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth.    

Thanks for the quick response. I have been told to buy Organic seeds instead of the hybrids. Anyways it's fun learning all these things as I'm trying to eat more natural products. It's also nice to have input from someone from the Pacific Northwest. Keep up the good work!